Distinguished Keynote Speaker

SPACE and Dawson College are thrilled to announce that the keynote speaker for this year’s conference will be world-renowned slight-of-hand magician, bust-open your guts comedian, and once-upon-a-time Dawson Liberal Arts student,

DAVID ACER

Since this year’s theme is Exploring Knowledge Through the Senses, Mr. Acer will discuss the Senses and their relevance to his work, in particular as a slight-of-hand-magician. As he says, “My job as a magician is to create knowledge in your mind, through your senses, that is wrong.” David will also discuss his life since leaving Dawson, and the passions that have driven him throughout his eclectic and fascinating career.

David Acer is a Gemini-award-nominated writer and comedian who has done crazy things on dozens of television shows around the world, like protesting outside a train station dressed as a giant penny while inviting people to lie down on the tracks to “see how it feels,” and limping to the couch for a talkshow interview with a Denver Boot on his leg because, as he put it, he had “a few unpaid j-walking tickets.” He has appeared on a multitude of international specials (BBC England’s The Secret World of Magic, NHK Japan’s F.I.S.M. 2000, Discovery’s Grand Illusions), a plethora of Canadian comedy classics (CBC’s Just For Laughs, CTV’s Comedy Now, CHCH’s Comedy at Club 54), and an array of American prime-time standards (A&E’s Comedy on the Road, ABC’s America’s Funniest People), not to mention live around the world and 10 times at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. 

Younger viewers, however, are more likely to recognize him as “Doubting Dave” from Discovery Kids' Mystery Hunters, which garnered him two Gemini nominations (the Canadian equivalent of the Emmys) for Best Writing in a Children’s Non-Fiction Series, and the publication of his new book, “Gotcha: 18 Amazing Ways to Freak Out Your Friends.” 

Don’t miss this amazing talk: register for the conference here, and discover where your senses can lead–and mis-lead–you!