What makes TED obnoxious is that they market it so heavily (all those videos) but exclude most people. It's fine to have private conferences, and fine to promote conferences, but it is nasty to do both.
I agree that the ads at the beginning of the TED videos are annoying, but overall I don't think TED is particularly heavily marketed. And I think it is hard to complain when they are distributing free videos of pretty much all the conference talks.
As a New School student, I can only say... well... okay yes, you're probably right. It's great fun though. I can't imagine hating school anywhere else.
I wouldn't read too much into it. My experience of the corporate world so far suggests that any group whose name explicitly mentions innovation doesn't actually do anything.
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-09-18/tech/30013788...