The UPA is going to have a conference titled "Patterns: Blueprints for Usability" June 11-15, Austin, Texas. This would be something I would like to see.

From the website:

As usability professionals, our ability to observe users and to discover their patterns of interaction is integral to our work. By defining these patterns we can then leverage that knowledge to create usable interfaces that are familiar and useful to our users.

Link

The UPA is pushing World Usability Day 2006 for November 14th, 2006. Events will be held throughout the world in recognition.

Going over the event announcements, the focus appears to be accessibility. There are also some stories including flies in urinals.

Link , UPA