Update: mission complete. Thanks to everyone who offered help!
I'm currently interning at a bank, just a little in over my head with the work I'm tackling (though I'm crunching through 40-page documents on the hour, and learning more intensively than I ever have in school). I'm on the bus there on the verge of being late (first time) and I'm throwing a line to see if someone can answer my question:
My boss (vice president) and the founder/CEO of the bank are taking me and the two other interns to lunch , with two stock brokers/mutual fund managers from UBS. It's an opportunity to ask questions and hopefully make them remember my name, face, or tie.
So: I have done a LOT of research on both brokers, and it is now apparent to me how outright strange and profoundly creepy it is to meet someone with their entire career path memorized to the present. Is it appropriate to let on that I've done research on them while we're talking? Do they expect that or will I come off as a stalker (which I absolutely am in this case,) and what's the perfect balance? Lastly, any important advice for getting thr most out of this sort of scenario? I have numerous other meetings similar and I would like to be on my game. Cheers, hubsquad.
PS we're eating at per se. fuck me.
Edit: joking of course but the most significant advice here is that community tag. Downtown metro was totaled this morning and I was already running late. I ran 20 blocks in a suit in 5 minutes. I was more sweat than man.
Be genuine. A VP and a CEO are going to be much better at being disingenuous than you are and as a consequence, much better and smelling out disingenuousness. You're young: you won't be expected to have your head wrapped completely around everything and you are not going to be held to the same standard as a colleague.
Your best move is to ask them questions you really want answers for. Bonus points if they're related to the banking industry. Smile, pay attention and maintain eye contact will count for far more than you realize.
The fancy restaurant thing is a nice trick. Pay scrupulous attention to table manners and to what is ordered. If their elbows are off the table, so are yours. If their elbows are on..., well, still better to keep 'em off. Napkin goes into the lap when their napkins go into the lap. It is perfectly acceptable to eat the same order, but not at all mandatory. Be scrupulously polite to the staff and don't be afraid to ask their advice between, say, two entrees.
Your boss and the founder may engage in discussions that you can't follow along with. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Attempt to understand the subject at hand: they brought you along for a reason.
Finally, remember that you are not a peer at this engagement, so you don't have to act like one. You are expected to be an eager and naive acolyte to the process, so play the part. Your goal isn't competence, it's potential.
Good luck, and have fun. $40 mac'n'cheese. I'll bet that's damn good.