What about using some kind of timeline at the bottom of the screen, and while flashing very short sequences of lesser important events, you zoom into the date of the timeline, and show the bigger event. Each lesser important event is worth 3-5 seconds, while the big event gets 10 seconds or so?

You can do a little of the multi-image technique, but it gets old pretty fast. The 1960's "Wild, Wild West" TV show intro that was already mentioned was only about 30 seconds long, so it worked.

About that same time as WWWest, lots of movies experimented with the multi-image technique, like "Grand Prix" and "Thomas Crown Affair." It was innovative, but not very compelling.

I had a similar desire for a project last fall and used Satish 3D PluginPac to put two images up, angled against each other. It let me put multi-tracks on the screen, but the images were too small, and it lost impact. I used it for a few scenes and then dropped it in favor of the old standard: good old-fashioned edits. Time your scenes carefully and you can cram a lot into 2:45. Also, you can use overlap dissolves to get more footage into the same space, assuming that the beginning and end of each scene are not important. Of course dissolves change the feel of the video and may not be what you want.

You can also do short stretches of "video bursts" where you have a series of edits each of which consists of only a second of video. This can be very effective when timed well to the music, but again, it has to fit the material.

I advise against cramming more videos on screen for the purpose getting more info across.
But instead of lining up as many events as you can, you could create a theme and then use only the footage that best describes the theme. For example:
1 This is the very important goal we had that year.
2 These were the obstacles.
3 These are the things we did to reach our goal.
4 This is what we achieved (in relation to 1).

Under 3 you show your footage. Make sure all the examples are relevant to either 1 or 2 or both. Throw away everything that is not.

This is classic dramaturgy that you can read about in many books.
Tor

Why not let the kids do it? Or at least ask them for ideas- then we can all brainstorm as to how to accomplish them...

The first thing you need to do is cut the projected size. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY wants to sit through a three hour video.

I'm confused a ittle as to what you're asking.

a) how to rummage through hours of raw material, for YOU to edit
b) having mulitple timelines going at once in the FINISHED project.
c) something else?

Oops, I thought he meant 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Didn't he?
Tor

I've seen a multiimage effect lately in, I believe, a political ad. There are two or three separate regions laid out approximately horizontally across the screen. Each region is feathered out into a white or light colored blur.

Each region fades between a variety of images. The fades are not simultaneous, but they can be staggered so that only one region is changing at a time.

So, even though one of the images might be changing every 1 second, an individual image stays up for 3 seconds.