I've been to many TEDs and can confirm: To sit in the first very few (3?) rows you have to be a Patron or whatever, but if you want to be in row 5 or so, you simply have to get in line 20 minutes early. (Kind of like the old Southwest Airlines system.) So I don't know what all that back-of-the-bus stuff was about.
Oh wait...people who insist on typing on their computers during the talks are relegated to the "blogger zone" in the balcony. Maybe that's it.
Was it like that last year ? I remember there were some speaker/reserved seats at stage right, but I wasn't actually aiming for the front row because that might introduce a crick in my neck :-) So I guess 'patron' rows would be possible.
The shunting of those who want to blog/surf to the balconies was pretty nice for those who don't want the typey typey glowing screen distraction.
Oh wait...people who insist on typing on their computers during the talks are relegated to the "blogger zone" in the balcony. Maybe that's it.