Writing to a Professor you don't know

[BabyHelga]

Hi all! This may be a bad time since I know most of us are gearing up for the application season. This question is a bit off-topic, but I'd love your advice:

In the course of my research, I've come across several names that are obviously important people to know. These are profs that I think would be great to be in contact with, to establish connections which might be useful in the (near) future. The problem is, I don't really NEED anything from them per se. I don't need a supervisor; I don't have any particular questions about their work; I don't want them to read mine. I just want to make a connection.

Any ideas about how to do this? I have no idea how to get in contact with someone just for the sake of being in contact, without an explicit goal in mind.

Thanks!!

[TMP]

There have been several threads about this. Look back a page or two for different replies to this question and some have provided variations in a sample letter to a professor.

[iamincontrolhere-haig]

I haven't seen any templates for anything like this type of letter, only sample letters to POIs for grad school.

IMO, this is probably something best done in person, not via email. The biggest names in the field are in all likelihood extremely busy, so you'd probably have better luck tracking them down at a conference and chatting with them there--and then possibly using that meeting as an excuse to begin an electronic correspondence.