Other participants in a typical corporate design-review would be someone from Marketing and someone from Manuals. It's maybe just my experience but these guys were usually silent (or maybe asleep?) but in this case might suggest that you need a way to turn the widget on and off - and if using a 2-pin non-polarized connector, what happens if you plug in the battery backwards?
Here are two 9V battery-holder connectors suitable for PCB use. The connectors themselves "guarantee" correct polarity on a 9V battery. I suppose the on-off "switch" could be the act of inserting the battery. Otherwise, the right example right shows a cheap (10 cent) on-off slide switch.