Rupa Ranganathan’s job used to be a little easier. She is in charge of organizing Strategic Research Institute’s annual Hispanic marketing conference, held in Miami Beach every January for the past decade.

Back when the conference started, it was about the only one around. But today, thanks to the explosion of corporate interest in the Hispanic market, there’s a plethora of similarly themed pow-wows being offered around the country.

That makes a tad more work for Ranganathan.

”I do keep an eye on the competition,” said the senior vice president and ethnic strategist for the New York-based firm. “I study who’s coming to conferences and talk to them about issues and challenges. I read whatever’s written. I have to keep in touch.”

Multicultural and Hispanic marketing has been a hot conference topic since 2000, when the U.S. Census underscored that Hispanics were the fastest-growing slice of the population. And heavily Hispanic Miami, a favorite spot for confabs of any type in the winter, is especially popular for multicultural-themed events.

There are now so many of these conferences around the country that executives have to pick and choose which to attend.

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