Hispanic Heritage Month concluded Wednesday night, but organizers are already looking at ways to improve what they called the busiest month of Latino programming ever at Northwestern.

“It was a jam-packed month, but it went really well,” said Alianza President Lilly González. “I think it really set things off to a good start.”

With 16 events packed into four weeks, organizers say there might have been almost too many activities: six speakers, a film series, various discussions and other cultural events. Next year, they plan to cut some programming to increase attendance.

“The one thing I would like to change is to work at having only one major event per week,” said Laura LaBauve-Maher, acting coordinator of Hispanic/Latino student services, who coordinated the month’s activities.

The kick-off event, a talk by Hollywood producer Moctesuma Esparza, drew about 60 students. At the closing event Wednesday, about 50 people crowded into the Multicultural Center to celebrate Day of the Dead, a traditional Mexican holiday that honors deceased loved ones. Other well-attended events included a Latino Poetry Slam and a flamenco dance performance.

But filling each week with three to four activities hurt attendance in some cases, LaBauve-Maher said. For example, a dialogue about Hispanic/Latino identity drew only seven students and staff members.

“I’m disappointed that the attendance was low because I would have liked to dialogue with more students,” she said. “But the conversations we had were great.”

Because Hispanic Heritage Month coincided with Campus Week of Dialogue, students might have felt overloaded with multicultural activities. Interest levels seemed to wane around the third week, LaBauve-Maher said.

“It started out with a bang and ended with a bang, but I don’t know what happened in the middle,” said Speech sophomore Steven Rodriguez, who attended many of the month’s events. “But all the events were great.”

One of LaBauve-Maher’s goals next year is to co-sponsor more events with other campus groups, such as A&O Productions and the Multicultural Advocate program. Some of this year’s most highly attended events — the flamenco dance and the Latino poetry slam — were co-sponsored with Norris University Center.

Another advantage of working with other student groups is that the programming will appeal to students outside of the Latino community, LaBauve-Maher said. Some of the events, such as a talk about advertising and a discussion with author Cristina García, brought in non-Latino students as well as Evanston residents.

“Somehow the community is also hearing about Hispanic Heritage Month, and that’s good for the university,” LaBauve-Maher said. “I think that next year I’ll take a step outside of NU proper.”