"Especially when the October wind
With frosty fingers punishes my hair,
Caught by the crabbing sun I walk on fire
And cast a shadow crab upon the land,
By the sea's side, hearing the noise of birds,
Hearing the raven cough in winter sticks,
My busy heart who shudders as she talks
Sheds the syllabic blood and drains her words."
-  Dylan Thomas, Especially When the October Wind   

"All things on earth point home in old October: sailors to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to
field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken."
- Thomas Wolfe  
 

For me, October is the month where passing conversation often revolves around sentiments such as 'it really isn't summer any more is it?' and other such weather-related banter. It's the month that bridges summer and winter. In many ways it seemed like we didn't really have an autumn this time around. But that's ok with me, I was busy enough here at Sift Media and October definitely felt like the month where everything suddenly clicked into place. I already had the advantage of previously having worked for Sift in a different role, so many aspects of my job were familiar to me, but it still took a couple of months to settle in. October was that turning point.

In terms of L&D, October was characterised by fallout/roundups from the barrage of events in September. And for TrainingZone events came no bigger than WOLCE, with elearning specialist and Learning Technologies discussion group organiser Clive Shepherd providing our official round-up. The theme of the month was cultural communications, and Fusion Universal neatly tied this with their knowledge of learning technologies. Another key aspect of the cultural communications remit was the idea of behavioural change, with abdi's Jane Massy providing insight into this and Ian Luxford also tackling employee engagement in much the same way.

Last mini-blog post tomorrow. Hope you've enjoyed them.