If you are in Sacramento on the third Thursday of the month, check out the Sacramento Web Standards group. Organized by Mark Applet, this group gets together to discuss topics related to front end development on the web. This is not a “how do you write HTML”, or “what is your favorite CMS” group. This group tackles best practices and new technologies that professionals are adopting.
We have had presentations on media queries, @font-face, and the use of virtual machines. Check out the Sacramento Web Standards site for more past topics and other resources.