In my experience, it is best to never reveal the whole design, especially those parts which are “secret sauce”, but to craft your presentation in a way that the

In my experience, it is best to never reveal the whole design, especially those parts which are “secret sauce”, but to craft your presentation in a way that the reviewer appreciates your work but does not recognize the things you aren’t showing. In short, yes, people will steal your ideas and hard work, and it is your responsibility to prevent that from happening and do so in a non-confrontational manner. I have experienced this behavior my entire engineering career—from customers, business teammates and even colleagues. My wife thinks I need to trust people more—but experience has taught me otherwise. Sorry to be a downer.