The private defense should is an opportunity to raise issues with candidate and assess their ability to defend their dissertation in a public forum. In essence this is a dry run for the public defense. Normally, the committee meets for 15 minutes without the candidate to surface procedural issues, major concerns, etc., prior to the private defense. The committee uses the private defense as an opportunity to discuss issues surrounding the research and to help the candidate prepare for the public defense. The candidate should not use this as information brief for his or her committee. Instead, they should circulate a copy of their thesis and public defense slides at least two weeks before the private defense.