The Toastmasters Concord Breakfast Club has an odd quandary. People join to improve their communication, speaking, and leadership skills. With weekly practice, they become adept at speaking, leading, and coaching. Eventually, their employers take notice and offer them promotions and new positions. More responsibility in the workplace can mean less time for extracurricular activities.

That’s when members tend to leave the club.

Ken Smith, a member since 1997, says he noticed the trend of losing members to promotions from his earliest days in the club. One member worked in an entry-level job for a restaurant, joined Toastmasters, and was soon promoted to manager.

"I liken Toastmasters to belonging to a gym," Smith says. "When you come to the meetings every week, you get fit – I call it ‘communications fitness.’"

Another member, who had a part-time job as a receptionist, used her newfound-communications skills to land a full-time position with the same organization.

Some members have even become keynote speakers, and must leave to make time for their professional speaking engagements. Others have received promotions that require them to travel nationally and internationally.

Founded in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, Calif, Toastmasters International has nearly 260,000 members in roughly 12,500 clubs in more than 100 countries. While each club has a different vibe and meeting schedule, the Toastmasters’ goal is to improve speaking and leadership skills.

At each meeting, members are given roles that range from leading the meeting to selecting the word of the day to giving prepared and impromptu speeches. For example, each week, a member serves as grammarian and selects a word of the day, which impromptu speakers must use during the "Table Topics" portion of the meeting. The goal is to increase members' vocabulary, but it also creates an additional challenge for Table Topics speakers, who must find a way to use the word in their extemporaneous, one- to two-minute speech.

Members are asked to listen carefully and critique each prepared speech and offer encouragement, suggestions, and of course, applause. Over time, members gain confidence and learn how to organize their thoughts and their words, whether they are giving a speech or evaluating performance.

Naturally, good communication and leadership skills open doors and bring new opportunities. While it’s disappointing to lose new members, the club encourages personal and professional growth and the success that follows. Often, former members come back, Smith says. They leave to devote more time to their work or their families, but soon realize communication skills need regular maintenance.

At $10 a month, Concord Breakfast Toastmasters is accessible and affordable to many. To learn more about Concord Breakfast Toastmasters, visit http://www.tm2056.org/.

Gina Gotsill is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and editor. She recently co-authored Surviving the Baby Boomer Exodus: Capturing Knowledge for Gen X and Y. Look for a feature on her book on allnewsnoblues.com next month.