At the end of January 1989 the editors of the GHP, Rop Gonggrijp, Patrice Riemens, Marieke Nelissen^{note 99} and myself decided to go ahead and create a large computer show in the summer. Possible guests and partners were identified, possible sponsors as well. At the end of March two press releases were sent out into the world, one for the GHP and one for ICATA'89. On the 29th of March a first posting was done by Hack-Tic on NEABBS^{note 100} announcing the Galactic Hacker Party.

The language of the two announcements, including the "Force must be nurtured (... ) Spread the byte" and the "desk-top publishing of transactions", reflects the atmosphere of the time.