You make really good points. Smiling would be another important skill as I have learned and admittedly also being a blonde woman. Although, I fear that might wear off over the years :-)
Somebody summarized to me what to do when meeting an important person:
- tell them what they don't know and not what they already know
- offering something they don't have is better than asking what you don't know
- never steal their time, because they are short of it
- remind them of their importance and thank them for being such responsible actors
It helped me twice so far. Especially the latter seems to be an important one given that criticism is so much easier and faster to spread.