Cold messages to people in my field, do they work? after 14 years as a teaching assistant

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. There are 14 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. Some people reply with short answers. Did any turn into leads?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 4 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.