APEC CEO Summit: How an Energy Company Shows Up on a Global Stage
The experience of running a PR booth at APEC CEO Summit. Delivering an energy transition vision to Asia-Pacific leaders in a 4×4m space, and what it taught me about global PR.
International PR is different.
Unlike domestic press releases for Korean journalists, the answers to "who, what, how" change completely on a global stage. In October 2025 at APEC CEO Summit in Gyeongju, I felt this directly.
Why APEC
The APEC CEO Summit brings together the top decision-makers of all 21 Asia-Pacific member economies. It's held during the Leaders Summit, so the density of attendees is unlike any other business event. A rare opportunity for an energy company to speak directly in its own voice.
The constraints: English as the default language, 4×4m space, visitors who will pass through in minutes.
"Energy for Sustainable Life"
Defining the concept was the hardest part. We needed to connect to APEC 2025's official theme ("Building a Sustainable Tomorrow") while carrying a story only an energy company could tell.
We landed on "Energy for Sustainable Life" — energy as the force that makes life sustainable. Not hiding from our identity as a refinery company, but starting there and expanding toward the future.
Three axes structured the story:
- BX (Business Transformation): Making decades of refinery technology more efficient and safer
- DAX (Digital & AI Transformation): AI factory, process optimization, autonomous manufacturing
- GX (Low-Carbon New Business): CCUS, hydrogen, SAF, carbon-free steam
The Space as Content
In a 4×4m space, the space itself had to be content. A large LED facade captured visitors' attention on entry; three-panel interior LEDs cycled through the three theme videos; beacon devices let visitors select the section they were interested in.
One docent. Five weeks of preparation went substantially into docent training. They needed to deliver the core of the energy transition story in English, in three minutes, to global leaders from across the region.
The Online Exhibition
An offline booth runs for three days across 4×4m. Physical constraints are absolute.
So we ran a parallel online exhibition. Not simply moving the booth content into digital form — a separate designed experience with the company's history timeline and transition vision accessible to global attendees who couldn't reach Gyeongju in person.
The Most Different Thing About Global PR
Domestic press releases can assume some baseline knowledge of the industry. The company's name is recognizable; its position in the Korean energy market is understood.
For business leaders from across the Asia-Pacific, the company's name was new. Its history, its position in Korean energy, the meaning of being the world's fourth-largest single-site refinery — all needed to be explained from scratch.
This turned out to be the most fundamental PR training of all: can you explain your company persuasively to someone who has never heard of it, in three minutes?
What I Learned
Telling an energy company's story on a global stage isn't about listing technology or business performance. It's about saying "why we matter" in human language.
Energy that makes life sustainable. That sentence is what the entire APEC CEO Summit booth was about.