Networking advice???????????????? vol. meeting the biggest CEOs

[ridingonlorenzos]

So I may be blessed with the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm a student association VP at my college, and also work part time at a teller at a bank which I am doing extremely well at.
Tomorrow, I was invited to an exclusive discussion with 30 other student leaders, and the CEO of my bank, the CEO of a major insurance firm, the CEO of a major security firm, and a couple celebrity types. Obviously, I want to make a great impression with the CEO of the bank, so I can go from VP at my college to the VP at my bank.

Dress code is business casual, should I just wear a suit anyway?

 

[oh you mad]

What bank do you work for? Best of luck fam.

 

[melofan15]

If it says business casual, dress business casual.

 

[neukicks]

Originally Posted by melofan15

If it says business casual, dress business casual.

This. Don't forget, if they are they CEO, the CFO, even the President of the United States, they are just people, and put their pants on the same way you do, one leg at a time.

 

[jordanhendrix]

i would wear a tie at least but not a full suit, you could always just drop the coat later anyways. the rule is dress for the next position up. You should know a lot about the companies and perhaps even a quick SWOT analysis is in order. I know that sounds like a lot but youre trying to impress here, that would be pretty good. CEO's are very plugged into their company's stock, you should ideally know a little about its recent history and even read some analyst reports or a 10k. Think of networking as a information gathering technique, ask open ended questions...."Where do you see the your market heading considereing the volitlity of consumer banking right now?" blah blah,  Since its banking you should also know about the bailouts and their mechanisms. I would also be ready to talk about how the impending Investment Banking layoffs could trickle down to consumer banking or not.
That last one was a golden nugget and is very recent/relevant.
Be positive, firm handshake.