It is stressful when the people in the room do not give the reaction you expect. For instance, while you are presenting, you see people shaking their heads or raising their eyebrows. You do not know what those gestures and expressions mean, but you generally interpret them negatively.
You would rather be in a room where the people maintain a poker face since they have neutral feelings towards your ideas. If you are convincing potential investors and you see that they are not responding well as you speak, you might want to stop.
Before you freak out, you need to understand that these listeners are yet to say a word. Unless they interrupt you and tell you that they are leaving because your presentation is bad, you cannot make rash conclusions. You need to continue talking and be confident.
Go to the next topic
Perhaps, the current ideas you are talking about are not going over well with the listeners. They do not like what you are saying, or they find it to be irrelevant. You can wrap it up and move on to the next. You still have a chance to change their mind with the following topics.
Do not show that you feel disturbed
Even when you see someone shaking their head or frowning in confusion, you cannot allow yourself to feel disturbed. You need to continue talking and discussing. At some point, they will get tired making the expression and relax their face. Besides, you do not know them at all. Perhaps, they have such expressions for everything. You cannot conclude that they do not like what you say at all.
Ask questions
If you are itching to know what they think, you can take the risk and throw questions at them. Tell them that if they have questions, they are free to ask you. Of course, you need to prepare for the worst. Some of them will take the bait and express their frustration. You can apologise if necessary, but you can also refute their statement if applicable. The key is to be calm and never be combative. If you are talking to investors, you are trying to win their hearts. Arguing with them and not managing your emotions could go against you.
Speak to those individuals once the presentation is over
If you have no chance to ask everyone how they feel, you need to take time to talk to those who gave negative expressions. Tell them that you noticed what they did. They might be honest about how they feel, and you can absorb the said information. Be grateful to them for their honesty even if you disliked the statement.
Nevertheless, you cannot force people to like what you say. You can prepare for the presentation, though until you are confident that you will impress people. Do not forget to check the tools you need. You might even have to invest in a video wall mount if you need a screen to present the data. Prepare everything days before the presentation and recheck it hours before you begin talking.
