Georges Hilaul
The only Connectionist in the Netherlands on genuine connection
Georges Hilaul was the youngest professional illusionist in the Netherlands at fifteen years old. What he does today is only partly connected to that: he combines making connections, science and live experiments into sessions that touch people, amaze them and set them in motion. His journey took him through the classroom in vocational education, through the slums of Indonesia where he founded a foundation for street children, and through the years in which he cared for his mother while she disappeared into Alzheimer's. Everywhere he arrived at the same conclusion: real connection doesn't come from a trick, but from time and attention. His gatherings are spectacular, but never without a deeper layer. It's always about real connection and its authenticity is palpable from the first minute.
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Biography
The youngest illusionist of the Netherlands
At the age of five, Georges Hilaul discovered his love for magic; by fifteen, he was the Netherlands' youngest professional illusionist. In the years that followed, he performed in theaters, TV shows and in the RTL dinner show at Studio21. The stage taught him how to captivate an audience—a skill he would later apply in very different contexts.
For the classroom in vocational education
Besides his work as an illusionist, Georges taught in vocational education, as an instructor and mentor to young people for whom education often didn't feel like a place meant for them. There he learned the difference between teaching and making genuine contact, and he discovered that sometimes that connection is the only reason someone comes back the next day.
Indonesia: learning to inspire, inspiring to learn
After years of teaching and performing, a turning point came. Georges moved to Indonesia, established a foundation there, and worked for years on educational projects for street children. In the slums, he discovered what no trick had taught him and no classroom could fully give him: that real connection doesn't come from magic, but from presence. From time. From attention.
His mother, and the journey that continued
Back in the Netherlands, his mother gradually succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. Georges cared for her and they continued travelling as long as they could. This confirmed what he already knew: connection does not depend on recognition or words, but lives in the moment itself. Drawing from this layered experience of performing, teaching, Indonesia and caregiving, he now shares his insights through masterclasses and lectures.
Expertise
Connection as a Profession
Georges calls himself a Connectionist, a title he coined himself because no existing term covered what he does. He grounds his work in scientific insights, but the core comes from practice: connection can be made, maintained and strengthened, and it starts with yourself. He helps people discover how thoughts, choices and intuitions are interwoven with each other, and sometimes in ways they didn't see coming.
Making contact with those who feel unseen
At MBO level, Georges worked with young people for whom school was never a given, and in Indonesia with children living on the streets. In both places, the same truth emerged: attention is not a side effect of knowledge transfer, but its precondition. This experience makes him invaluable for anyone working with people who are turning away.
Communiceren als woorden tekortschieten
For years, Georges cared for his mother as her world grew smaller. He knows how to maintain connection without language, what remains when memory fades, and how to navigate a relationship that changes form but never ends. When he speaks to care professionals and informal caregivers, he does so not as an observer but as a participant.
Let people experience instead of explaining
Thirty years on stage has cultivated a skill that rarely goes hand in hand with this subject: Georges can transform an abstract concept into something the audience experiences. Is it real? Is it magic? That question is precisely the point through which participants remember what they felt, not what they heard.
Themes
Making, maintaining and strengthening connections
How real connection works: not the contact of meetings, social media or networking events, but the kind that unlocks something in yourself and in another person.
Connection on the work floor
Not an HR topic, but the silent engine behind collaboration, motivation and results. About employees who feel seen and what that truly delivers.
Connection in Healthcare and Education
What changes when a patient realizes that the caregiver is truly present, or a student feels that their teacher believes in them. In such moments, connection is not a luxury but the core of the work.
Connection in Dementia
How to communicate when words fall short, what remains when so much is lost, and how to stay connected with someone who is no longer quite there.
Presence, Time and Attention
The three ingredients that all his experiences came down to: in the classroom, in the slums, and at his mother's bedside.
Why Georges
Entertainment with substance
Georges combines the energy of a performer with the depth of someone who knows what he's talking about. His live experiments are unforgettable and often barely comprehensible, but they always serve the subject matter.
The audience doesn't just sit there, it participates
The audience gets to work with experiments and engages in conversation with each other. It is precisely there, among people who sometimes don't yet know one another, that genuine connections emerge on the spot.
Thirty years of stage experience
From theaters and TV shows to the dinner show in Studio21. He knows how to build a room, when to create a moment of silence and how to use timing.
Lived experience, not theory
His insights come from the classroom, the slum, and informal care. That is a different kind of credibility than a reading list, and an audience feels the difference immediately.
Expert by experience in dementia
For healthcare organizations, informal caregiving groups, and Alzheimer's organizations, he speaks from within. Warm and with humor, but without sentimentality.
Versatile
Masterclass, narrative lecture, chairing a day event, or as a table guest in a panel or podcast — with the same subject as a consistent thread throughout.
Talks
The magic of connection
45 to 75 minutesHow often did you have real contact today?
Not the contact of a meeting, social media or a networking event, but the connection that stirs something within you and touches something in another. Georges starts with that question.
Experience rather than hear
Through live experiments, scientific insights and personal stories, you don't just learn about the power of connection — you experience it. You discover how thoughts, choices and intuitions are interwoven.
Handles for Tomorrow
Connection starts with yourself and radiates to everything around you. Participants go home with concrete insights they can apply the very next day. Suitable for teams, leadership programs, conferences with interactive formats, and annual meetings.
The Magic of Connection in the Workplace
45 to 75 minutesGeen HR-thema maar de motor eronder
Verbinding is de stille kracht achter samenwerking, motivatie en resultaat. Of je nu in het bedrijfsleven werkt, in de zorg of in het onderwijs: de vraag is dezelfde, en het verschil is groter dan je denkt.
What if someone feels seen every day?
An employee who notices that he matters, a patient who feels that the care provider is truly present, a student who knows that his teacher believes in him. Georges makes visible what that delivers.
Getting started in your own context
Through live experiments, direct exchange and interactive formats that engage the audience, participants discover how they themselves contribute to connection and where there is still room for improvement. No lectures and no ready-made answers.
The magic of connection in dementia
45 to 75 minutesConnection that changes shape
A story about holding on to what slowly disappears, and about who someone remains to be, even as memory fades. How do you communicate when words fall short? And how do you stay connected—with another person, but also with yourself?
Inspiring and moving
Georges travelled his entire life with his mother, through Europe and Asia and through countries where they didn't speak the language. When dementia made her world smaller, they continued going with more aids in their suitcase.
Two forms, one story
As a masterclass, Georges engages interactively with participants' experiences; as a narrative lecture, his own story takes center stage, with room for reflection. Warm, humorous, and without sentimentality. For healthcare professionals, informal caregiver groups, Alzheimer's organizations, and public events.
Reviews
“Informative and entertaining at the same time! It was wonderful to experience how Georges combined connection and magic. Highly engaging and incredibly skillful. His presentation was cleverly structured and kept the audience captivated throughout, both the show and the content. It was a beautiful combination of substance and enjoyment, with plenty of food for thought.”
“Besides an energetic and enthusiastic performance, the results of the experiments and 'tricks' that Georges performs are truly astounding. In short, a professional and particularly attention-grabbing addition to any event.”
“Georges delivered a fantastic masterclass with "The Magic of Connection" for the nurses and care workers of GGZ Delfland. It was wonderful to see how he got this group moving. In the end, we are all connected with each other!”
“It was not only connection, but also wonder. It certainly leaves you wanting more! Georges' lecture taught us that connection can arise simply through attention. Attention for the other, but also for yourself.”
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