Thomas van Zuijlen

My name is Thomas and as a facilitator I design effective workshops, host delightful conferences and run creative hackathons for companies & organisations that want to level up.

I'm an energetic MC & facilitator, and as a professional Scrum Master with nearly a decade of experience in facilitating creative collaboration, I am an expert in iteratively bringing about valuable change with teams.

Call me directly on +31621811497.
Drop me a line via thomas@vanzuijlen.com.
And/or connect with me on LinkedIn.

You can hire me to...

create a tailored workshop for you
host your event or conf
facilitate your meetings
present your webinar
design and run your hackathon

Book a 20-minute call

Facilitation 🚀

As a facilitator, I attach myself to the goal of the group and help you reach it. I work to make sure you reach your goals faster, and help you notice and seize opportunities that emerge along the way.

As an impartial participant, I have no stake in the content of what we create; my focus is on having the group reach a valuable outcome that is useful to them going forward.

That way, while I mind the clock and choose the best possible exercises/activities, you can focus entirely on your goals, agenda and connection.

Hosting & MC'ing 🎤

I enjoy MC'ing and building hype to create inclusive, enjoyable experiences - online and on-site.

I wasn't just the event host, I was The White Rabbit 🐰 for Alice in Waterland, an all-encompassing epic experience for public water management professionals. Held in BlueCity, the former Tropicana, in Rotterdam in November 2024.

Here's a sample of me bringing my enthusiasm to Agile Day Kaunas, a 120-people Open Space-fueled conference in Lithuania:

Here's the (Dutch-language) aftermovie of The Big Water Hack: Beyond the Horizon, a 60-people social hackathon on the future of water management that I presented and helped design in January 2024:

Here I'm interviewed by Ant Agile Sofos about my work as a C-level Scrum Master and in particular, my work as the host of Agile Day Kaunas 2023:

What my clients say about working with me 💫

I had the pleasure of working with Thomas during the organization of the Louwman Hackathon, and what an amazing collaboration it was!

🎯 His structured approach and clear communication truly stood out. Thanks to that clarity, he managed to create space for spontaneous ideas and actions, adding an extra dynamic to the hackathon.

With his enthusiasm and energy, Thomas instantly connects with participants, making everyone feel welcome and inspired. 🌟 A valuable partner and someone I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone!

Maarten Appelo

Business Innovation Manager
Louwman Group (2024)

Thomas, thank you for hosting the Assai Innovation Day 2025. It was a great event! I loved the energy and interactions with customers and partners. We got positive vibes and feedback all around. You were a driving force for the success of the day and thanks for bringing in your positive energy and incredible way of interacting with the audience!

Yaron Goldstein

CTO
Assai Software (2025)

I thought getting a professional moderator was the best decision! Thomas really had an impact.

Before the start of our event I was a little nervous, but when we started, I saw Thomas and how he handled things, and I just smiled.

He noticed that not everyone was confident right away and I think he handled it 100% as a host - by getting speakers to talk freely, and respond to one another.

Without Thomas it wouldn't have been as good!

Gintare Striogaitė

CMO
AIDA Recruitment (2025)

Moving our bi-annual event Hyarchis Connect to the virtual space was a huge challenge for us last year, however, Thomas supported us all the way.

From a well-thought-through alignment with the speakers to smooth facilitation of our online event – he always does everything in his power to give us peace of mind. This is something I truly appreciate! :)

Greta Zaikauskaitė

Marketing Manager
Hyarchis (2022)

Facilitating change

I am an experienced facilitator for workshops, meetings and sessions - both online and in person. I combine goal-based learning design and an understanding of group dynamics to create a flexible space for participants to safely engage with one another. I have an active, confident stance.

I've facilitated roundtables, fishbowls, offsites, trainings, retrospectives, strategy sessions and webinars. Group sizes for my facilitation work have been as widely diverse as ranging from 3 to 123 people.

Ready-made workshops

🥪 The Scrum PB&J is a highly interactive clinic in which Product Owners and Scrum Masters refresh their Scrum knowledge and increase their collaborative gains.

🙋‍♂️ Distributed Workinar is an engaging online workshop about having engaging online workshops and meetings - it'll help you and your company get more out of working apart together.

About me

I have a decade-long background in agile co-creation and a knack for working with diverse, distributed teams. With a positive outlook on everything and a strong interest in creative co-creation, I engage teams and groups to work together effectively.

I'm a political scientist turned front-end developer turned Scrum Master, turned workshop facilitator, with extensive experience in conference and meetup organisation.

I operate in the Netherlands and in Lithuania, and I've been working with distributed teams non-stop since 2017.