This week at our meeting, we had our first guest speaker, the Mayor of Mankato, Jeff Kegameyer. As I had mentioned earlier, I was reluctant to have him speak to the group, because I was concerned that perhaps he would not be the greatest guy in the world to interview about bringing fireworks to Minnesota. I was correct that he would not be that helpful as far as our main goals, but it was fun for both my group and I to get a chance to speak with a public official in person.

When Jeff and I got to the room, my group had already made a circle of the desks big enough for 7. I started the meeting off by introducing Jeff to the group, and the group introduced themselves to Jeff. We started talking about our mission statement and long-term goals in order to get Jeff up to par with what we were doing. We then moved on to a question and answer format, where Jeff answered the questions that we had prepared to ask earlier. I would say that it went relatively well; unfortunately, it only took about 25 minutes to finish.

Jeff seemed content with allowing us until 3:00 to talk with him, so rather than rush him out the door because we were done asking him about topics concerning our group, I rolled with the punches. The group had no more questions for Jeff, so I asked him to discuss with us what is going on in Mankato. This cued Jeff to go off on the coal train issue, and a few other minor issues that were of concern to the community. I was interested in listening to his issues, and the way it looked, so was the group. With about 10 minutes left, Jeff got very casual. He started to talk about what he used to do with fireworks when he was a kid, and why he thinks fireworks should be legal in Minnesota. He also listened to the group’s fireworks stories and laughed along with them. It was very clear to see that Jeff is very good with public relations, because he got along just great with the group. Before he left, he wished us luck with our project, and handed out City of Mankato pins for all of us.

I am not so grateful for the information that we got from Jeff as I am for the whole experience of the interview. I admit, he was not the right guy to interview about our issue, but it sure was an enlightening experience for my group. At the very least, the entire group enjoyed the interview, and was happy to see someone besides just me blabbing to them. The way that Jeff conducted himself was especially comforting for my group. With high energy, relatively wild boys, I was afraid that Jeff may be intolerable to their attitude, but he fit right in. Overall, I think it was a good experience to have a prominent official from our community come in and speak with our group. The interview changed the dynamic of the group for the day, and they behaved better than expected. I am kind of taking this as a hint that if I change things up week by week, our meetings will go much easier for both my group as well as myself.