I say yes to most student requests I get, and I still see the same avoidable mistakes in the ones I turn down or have to chase for details.
What a good invitation includes
- Who you are and what your club or department is — one line, not a paragraph.
- The audience size and format you're picturing — a 45-minute talk and a 3-hour workshop are different asks.
- Two or three date options, not a single fixed slot that might already be taken.
- Why them specifically — a generic mass-email to twenty speakers reads as exactly that.
What makes an email easy to ignore
"We'd love to have you speak sometime" with no date, no audience, and no topic. It's not that the ask is unwelcome — there's simply nothing to say yes to yet.
The follow-up that works
One polite nudge after five working days, referencing the original email. People are busy, not uninterested, more often than students assume.