IEEE Conference Paper: Different Author Blocks, Different Information? I am currently preparing my very first paper. Since the conference to which I am going to submit my paper to requires the authors to use the IEEE conference paper template.
The template says that if the authors have no more than 3 affiliations, we should adopt this format:

If the affiliations are more than 3, this format should be adopted.

The 2nd format is quite clear about the order of the authors, but as for the 1st, the 3rd and 4th authors are grouped together. So is there any distinction between the authors who are grouped together? Do these two formats convey the same contribution information about the authors?
In the IEEEtran_HOWTO (available in the template you link), they seem to actually mix a bit between the number of affiliations and authors. They actually write (Section IV.2): 


  If there are more than three authors and/or the text is too wide to fit across the page, use an alternate format:


which corresponds to the second format you put. So, basically, there are three possibilities: 


You have 3 authors or less, in which case you use the first format. If the first and third authors are from the same affiliation, then you can just repeat it, to keep the author ordering. 
You have more than 3 authors, but you can split the list of authors in 3 affiliation blocks. In this case, you use the first format. 
Otherwise, you can use the second format, even if you have only two affiliations, but the author ordering is somehow interleaved. 


In case of doubt, you can use the format that makes sense to you, you will be contacted by the editor if there is any problem.