Jessica Lin is an aeronautical engineer at National Aerospace, a multibillion dollar company that manufactures commercial jets. Jessica’s division at National Aerospace is relatively small, specializing in the development of engines for small corporate jets. Most recently, her division has been working on a new hybrid jet engine that uses traditional jet fuel and electric power. The engine uses jet fuel for takeoffs and major climbs in altitude. Once the jet reaches cruising altitude, the engine switches over to draw power from batteries stored in the hold of the jet. When the jet drops in altitude or lands, it recharges the batteries. The batteries can keep a jet flying at cruising altitude for three hours, and they only require a couple of hours to fully recharge. Her division estimates that the hybrid engine could lower carbon emissions by up to 60 percent. Those kinds of emissions reductions would make the engine very attractive in an industry that had been feeling incredible pressure to become “greener.” The CEO of National Aerospace, Nara Tanaka, views the hybrid engine as the future of the aerospace industry at all levels, from corporate jets to intercontinental aircraft. Recently, Jessica and her colleague, Stuart Hennings, had a major breakthrough. They came up with a design for a small hybrid jet engine that used compressed natural gas (CNG) and electricity. While running computer-based simulations of the concept, her team was getting very promising results. Simulations showed that this CNG hybrid engine could cut emissions down to an incredible 10 percent of the emissions from a traditional corporate jet. Meanwhile, conventional CNG fuel was significantly cheaper and more available than jet fuel. If National Aerospace could produce this kind of hybrid engine, it would be a radical game changer for her entire company and the industry. When Charles Soto, the Director of the Corporate Jet Division, heard about their breakthrough, he became very excited and started pressing them to have the concept ready for a presentation at National Aerospace’s Annual Meeting the following month. There is one really big problem. Nara, National’s CEO, has recently grown fond of those reality television shows, like Shark Tank, in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas. She wants this year’s annual meeting to be a “contest of ideas” in which engineers, not sales people, pitch their ideas for new projects. The best pitches will receive the most funding, and, Jessica assumes, bad pitches won’t receive any funding. Jessica’s colleague Stuart, though, is very awkward in social situations. Even he admits he’s a geek—and proud of it. Stuart is a bit quirky and doesn’t pay much attention to how he looks. He is quiet in groups and doesn’t do any public speaking in front of audiences. He tends to look off to the left as he talks and says “ah” and “you know” over and over. Jessica is a better public speaker, but she isn’t a confident speaker. Yet, if they want funding to develop their new hybrid engine, Jessica and Stuart will need to give the pitch because they are the engineers who came up with the idea. The annual meeting is a month away. The public relations team says they can create a flashy presentation with graphics and video. Delivering the pitch, though, would be up to Jessica and Stuart. Jessica knows a month isn’t enough to turn her and Stuart into strong public speakers. If you were Jessica, how might you use the month to prepare yourself and Stuart to give an effective pitch at the National Aerospace Annual Meeting?