Networking with Powerful People

Hi, fellow monkeys!

I'm still coming up in my finance career, having spent the last 4 years in structured finance operations role at a tech company on the West Coast. It's been a great experience and I'm upping my networking game to the point where I'm getting introductions to some powerful people outside my industry. This is especially timely since I'm moving to the East Coast for family reasons and getting intros to a few influential folks out there For example, I'm getting introductions to some powerful folks with commercial real estate and political connectionsin my new area.

Frankly, I'm struggling to do the mental homework needed to prepare for such a meeting. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to get these meetings and at the very least I want to reflect well on the folks who referred me. I find the typical informational interview advice just falls flat. I struggle because typically I would arrange meetings with folks that have a clear connection to me and my career path so that we can talk shop. Having a meeting out of the blue with someone powerful, but with no connection to my current path is something new for me. Any advice (perhaps from the older gorillas on this forum) on junior folks meeting with very senior/powerful people with no obvious relevance to my career? Perhaps I'm overthinking this and I should just mention firms I'm interested in in my new town and see if there are any referrals to be gained?