JAX [1] is a great forum to learn about the latest technologies and meet knowlegable experts in the industry This year JAX has dedicated a day to the growing Scala community. For those of you in the UK or planning to be there, JAX takes place from 22 to 24 February at the Novotel London West. If you want to learn more about Scala drop in on Ted Neward "Busy Java Developer's Guide to Scala" sessions [2] for insights and practical guidance; Functional Java, Objects, Functions, Scala + Services.
Links:
[1] http://jaxlondon.com/conferences/
[2] http://jaxlondon.com/conferences/trackssessions/?tid=1584#session-13464