I went to a great seminar yesterday and had the opportunity to meet an academic whose work I draw on heavily in my thesis. I am sending him a follow up email to say how nice it was to meet him and to follow up on his invite to give a talk at his uni. I'm happy with the email that I drafted but I'm unsure how to begin it.... He was very informal and was referred to by his first name throughout the day, but it seems a little casual in email. However Prof. Smith seems too formal.

So how to address it.... Hi Bob? Dear Bob? Hi Prof. Smith? Dear Prof. Smith? Any other suggestions?

This is one of the most crucial emails I could ever write so need it to be perfect!!

Hi,

I would either say Dear Professor Smith or just address it as "Hello,".

L

Hmmm, if in doubt I always take the formal approach and then wait for them to reply with a sign-off of "Bob". Then my next reply uses that address. Being bottom of the ladder myself I find it hard to imagine how profs feel about this, so I always err on the side of cautious courtesy.

Hi,

Hope you're not offended by this - but I thought it was really funny. We've all been there...!

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047

I would go with "Dear". If during the meeting you addressed him by Bob, then write "Dear Bob". If you actually did not address him by name, I would go with "Dear Bob Smith" (or Prof Smith).

Go for Dear Prof. Smith for your first email. You can't go wrong with that!

Louisa--that sketch made me laugh out loud. My emails are *exactly* like that. I also hate that moment where you have to make the transition from calling someone Dr.X to "John" in an email and you're thinking "ahhhhggg is this too forward!? "

Thanks guys! I'll go with Prof. Smith :-)

The PhD comics are good - it didn't offend Louise don't worry! The rest of the email was fine, it's just those first words I get hung up on!

Thanks for your help!