According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year.

Jeff Valles and Tom Cohn have delivered strong content at Forte Buying Group meetings for a long time. Valles – Forte’s director of membership services – believed the group’s summer meeting was going to follow a typical schedule; seminars, workshops and receptions. But in the end Valles felt the July meeting in Rosemont, Ill., was the perfect time to shake things up.