Gustavo Coutinho is a graduating senior studying computer science at Harvard College. Born in Resende and raised in Rio de Janeiro, he moved to the U.S. to pursue his undergraduate studies. Outside of his academic coursework, Gustavo has been involved in several extracurricular activities. He currently serves as one of the co-presidents of the Brazil Conference at Harvard & MIT, an organization he has been a part of throughout his four years at Harvard. Gustavo also works as a research assistant to Professor Mangabeira Unger at Harvard Law School.
Additionally, Gustavo is involved with Model U.N. and social innovation on campus, and he previously worked as a Course Assistant for CS50 (Introduction to Computer Science). Professionally, Gustavo has interned as a software engineer at Facebook twice and spent his last summer at McKinsey & Company working as a business analyst intern. He plans to return to McKinsey’s Boston office post-graduation. Despite growing up in Rio de Janeiro, he loves soccer and is an avid São Paulo fan.
Gustavo, you have been involved with the Brazil Conference at Harvard & MIT throughout college, first in a supportive role and for the past two years as Co-President. Why did you choose to become involved in the Brazil Conference, and how has it shaped your undergraduate experience?
My history with the Brazil Conference started before enrolling at Harvard College. In 2017, a great mentor of mine, an alum of Harvard College, flew me to Cambridge to attend the fourth edition of the event. At the time, I was deciding between completing my undergraduate studies at Harvard or Stanford. While I was leaning towards Harvard, attending the 2017 edition of the Brazil Conference sealed it for me. I had never participated in a conference that brought together highly polarizing opinions to create a powerful platform for dialogue and change. Watching Former President Dilma Rouseff and judge Sergio Moro speak in the same forum at that time was very moving for me. I left Harvard that weekend and returned to Rio confident I wanted to join Harvard students creating a change in our country.
I officially joined the Brazil Conference team in the fall of my freshman year and have spent every moment since contributing to the execution and success of the conference. Through this experience, I was able to work with various people across concentrations, interests, and, most notably, schools. I learned a lot by collaborating with students across Harvard and MIT, many of whom had years of professional experience. By working in nearly all boards of the conference (Fundraising, Logistics, Content, Communications, and Customer Experience), I learned skills I probably wouldn’t have been exposed to in any other extracurricular at Harvard. On top of it all, I made some of my best friends through the conference. The last two years, in which I had the opportunity to lead the conference, have been particularly gratifying. It has been an incredible honor to shape the direction of the conference in a moment of uncertainty and difficulty. In short, participating in the Brazil Conference has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my time at Harvard.
Could you tell us a bit more about the Brazil Conference at Harvard and MIT? We are aware this high-profile event was held virtually for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What was it like organizing an event of this caliber online? What were some challenges you faced, and what are some elements you would keep for future conferences?
The Brazil Conference at Harvard & MIT is held annually by the Brazilian student community in Boston to establish a plural space for debate. We seek to create dialogue about the future of our country and foster ideas that will significantly improve the lives of many Brazilians. Coined the “Brazilian Davos” by the press, the event was first held in 2015 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our country’s democracy.
While the past two editions have been held virtually, each tells a different story. The 2020 Brazil Conference was planned as an in-person event on Harvard and MIT campuses similar to prior editions. Our 100+ person team spent nearly a year organizing and planning a 900-person event. At the beginning of March, a month away from our event, our leadership grew worried about the onset of COVID-19. While the global magnitude of the pandemic was not apparent then, we were certain that our event requiring cross-country travel should not be held in person. The swift decision to postpone and virtualize the event proved correct, and we hosted the conference from April 22 to May 9, 2020. We opted to hold panels over the timespan of two weeks to avoid burnout from viewers. While it was a bummer not to be in person, the virtualization of the event was an opportunity to focus our efforts towards making our debates and discussions accessible to the highest number of Brazilians. The conference secured a partnership with the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo to retransmit all of our panels live on its social media. Combined with Estadão, the conference reached an impressive number of 425,000 views across its 12 panels.
The 2021 edition was very different from its predecessor in that it was fully envisioned as a virtual conference. In contrast to last year where our team had less than a month to plan the virtual conference, we had one year to improve the production of the 2021 conference. Because many of us had experienced Zoom fatigue through virtual classes, our number one goal (and challenge) was to create an engaging and immersive event different from the traditional Zoom meeting experience. To achieve this objective, my three other co-presidents and I decided to shift the event out of Boston to Rio de Janeiro. Regardless of our host city, we knew it wouldn’t be possible to have an in-person event. However, if we shot our conference in Rio, we could at least attempt to host the panels in historic spaces such as the Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf Mountain.
By “moving” the conference to Brazil, we sought an opportunity to approximate our event to a greater public. We secured strategic partnerships with Bondinho Pão de Açúcar and Paineiras Corcovado to shoot the opening and closing ceremonies, respectively. While we couldn’t have the speakers, sponsors, and general public in person, we had a master of ceremonies to make the event and transitions between panels more dynamic. In addition to securing these historic spaces, we sought to make our “panel experience” more professional by having intros and outros before each panel and camera cuts to the current speaker. Additionally, we included Brazilian sign language live translation to all panels to make the event more diverse and accessible. All these efforts played out well, and we were able to reach almost 1 million views across our panels. As per the next edition of the conference, I hope some of the “virtual-first” mindset is maintained as it allows the event to reach a much higher number of Brazilians than the traditional 1,000 in-person crowd.
What impact do you think the Brazil Conference has for the Brazilian community at Harvard and MIT?
The best aspect of the Brazil Conference is its community. I love how our event extends beyond Harvard and MIT and connects Brazilian students in other Greater Boston institutions. We had over 15 institutions represented in 2021, helping eliminate “campus bubbles” and creating strong bonds between students across institutions. Another advantage of the community created by the Brazil Conference is the networking possibilities between undergraduate and graduate students. I benefited a lot from working directly with several MBA students. I was able to forge strong connections with students from HBS, HKS, and MIT Sloan. As a student at Harvard college, I doubt I would have developed these connections without being involved in the conference. Outside of the community, I believe the conference is an excellent opportunity to remain connected with Brazil. While we’re all far from home, the conference allows us to spark meaningful conversations about our country.
Would you like to share any other thoughts or stories regarding this year's Brazil Conference?
Like many teams onboarded over the past year, our Brazil Conference team hasn’t had any in-person event or meeting, and I haven’t met many of the folks I worked with directly this year. I’m incredibly proud of our entire team, who volunteered to spend countless hours on Zoom in addition to their academic and professional work. It’s all about community, and some of the memories I cherish didn’t happen during this virtual conference. I hope we can reconvene soon and gather for homemade barbeques, dinners at Oliveiras, or happy hours at Harvard Square!