In response to severe budget restrictions and a shortage of qualified graduate students, a basic speech communications course instituted three innovations: use of undergraduate teaching assistants, contiguous scheduling of lecture and breakdown rooms, and the publication of a textbook supplement with detailed activity guidelines and examples. With these innovations, a single faculty member and one half-time master's degree candidate were able to offer 1000 students per semester a rigorous hybrid course that included informatics and persuasive public speaking. Chosen from students who had already successfully completed the course, the undergraduate assistants were familiar with the course content, goals, and procedures. They acted as effective course facilitators while saving the department a large amount of money in salaries. By scheduling lecture and breakdown rooms simultaneously, the course director gained flexibility in shifting from large to small group activities. As the course-specific textbook freed teaching assistants from acting as discussion leaders, the course director retained control over course content and grading despite the large number of students enrolled. Several simple innovations thus permitted the incorporation of a mass lecture format into a performance based course. (MM)