VANCOUVER - For two and a half years, since the team producing the opening and closing ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympic Games was put in place, the content of the ceremonies has been a closely guarded secret.

Participants have signed non-disclosure agreements and have been reminded at every turn that they're not to reveal anything about the ceremonies - not even to family or friends. The creative team has been cagey in interviews, careful not to provide any hint of what the audience can expect on Feb. 12. Maintaining the element of surprise has been a top priority.

But when thousands of spectators are allowed in for dress rehearsals at B.C. Place next week before Friday's opening ceremony, observers say it's impossible that those secrets will remain under wraps.

"You start opening up a performance event with spectators and you want to maintain a high level of secrecy, I just don't see how it's even conceivable," said Richard Smith, a professor of the school of communication at Simon Fraser University. "Certainly people will talk and when people talk, things no longer stay contained."

Dr. Smith, an expert in social media, said in the age of Twitter and Facebook, he can't imagine that people will keep mum - even if they do sign a non-disclosure agreement. "Every little blogger on the planet is thinking: ‘Well I could get a reprimand, but think of the hits.' "

There are three dress rehearsals: one this Saturday, which is closed to spectators and one next Monday and Wednesday.

(A contingency rehearsal planned for tomorrow was cancelled, according to a dancer in the ceremony, because things are going so well.)

The tickets to the Monday and Wednesday dress rehearsals are being made available to the "2010 work force" and people volunteering in the ceremonies, so they can invite family and friends.

But some people are re-selling their tickets on Craigslist, for as much as $200 a ticket.

Max Condor, 16, is selling five tickets for $150 each, which he received for free as a volunteer performer in the closing ceremony. He's selling the tickets for "some extra cash, and [because] I don't really want to go," he said yesterday. He wouldn't disclose his role in the closing ceremony, citing a confidentiality agreement he has signed.

Ticket holders to the dress rehearsals have been advised that they cannot bring cameras or cellphones, and have been told to come early and expect airport-style security.

"We have taken many steps over the past couple of years to keep the contents of the ceremonies confidential, and this confidentiality extends to the dress rehearsal," reads a VANOC statement.

"We believe the surprise element is critically important for the anticipation and ultimate enjoyment of the show by all Canadians and people around the world on Feb. 12.

"We are aware of a few instances where tickets were being sold on Craigslist, and as this is a private event, we are taking steps to ensure that the confidentiality of the opening ceremonies is maintained."

VANOC would not provide an interview, so what those steps are remains unclear.

This is not the first time people have been invited to attend a dress rehearsal for an Olympic opening ceremony. In recent years, it's been done in Sydney, Athens and even Beijing.

Olympic historian Kevin Wamsley, acting dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of Western Ontario, was at the Sydney dress rehearsal in 2000. He remembers that a giant flag ripped in half, and said there were a few other technical glitches that he noticed had been fixed by the time the real show was presented to the world. "If I was trying to co-ordinate so many people and trying to use technology and sound and video and choreography in such a complicated manner, I'd certainly want my people to be rehearsing and rehearsing in front of a crowd," he said.

But the media landscape has changed radically since Sydney, thanks to social networking, and information is now disclosed instantaneously.

A South Korean television crew leaked video from a rehearsal of the Beijing opening ceremony, which could be viewed online, and organizers were apoplectic.

Even since Beijing, the use of Twitter has exploded.

"VANOC would have to be completely naive to imagine that they could open the rehearsal up [without people finding out details]," Dr. Smith said. "It'll go onto Twitter and that'll be the end of that."

Dr. Smith wonders if VANOC is hoping some information will be leaked, to get some buzz going before next Friday's event.

"It used to be that if you wanted people to watch the opening ceremonies, you put it in TV Guide. Well, no one reads that sort of crap any more; nobody watches television on a schedule any more. So if you want people to pay attention, you have to have it out in social media and maybe they'll go ‘oh is that today?' and click on the link and maybe turn on their television.

"Leaking stuff early so that it can get into the media, that's Publicity 101."