networking with professors?

[child of 2]

I hear it's pretty important to have some sort of contact with the professors you're interested in in the field you're interested in. This way, you can know whether they have the money to support you, and whether or not they like you. But aside from walking up to them in conferences, there's really no way to contact a professor other than emailing them. I mean I'd consider myself lucky if they even bother to respond to one of these emails. How do you network?

[ktel]

When I was applying to grad schools I simply e-mailed a bunch of professors, and most of them got back to me. I happened to be in their city around Christmas time, so met with many of them.