Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes Source: ChatGPT Well, it's done. I successfully defended my dissertation; I'm now just have edits to incorporate and getting it through the institutional process. Damn--I finally did it! After writing some 60+ posts on this subject ( Started here and continues with this tag ), I'm within a handful of posts to wrap up the (chronologically) longest series I've done on this blog. So how was the defense? It was everything I needed it to be and more. I spent the few weeks before trying to work to construct the presentation so that it would make sense both to my audience and my committee. I got a draft and recorded it for my chair. He provided rich feedback that told me I was on the right track and that I needed to refine a few parts to keep the focus forward going. I practiced a few more times and felt largely ready for the presentation part. After all, presenting complex ideas to folks that ...