def METHOD_NAME(self, item):
    """
    Parse or generate event description.
    """
    description = ""
    # The itinerary of the meeting is always stored in the <ul>
    # element immediately following
    detail_el = item.xpath("following-sibling::*[1]")
    name = detail_el.xpath("name()").extract_first()
    if name == "ul":
        topics = list(
            map(
                lambda topic: ": ".join(
                    filter(
                        # Remove any strings that are empty
                        None,
                        [
                            # Title of topic
                            "".join(topic.xpath("strong/text()").extract()).strip(),
                            # Detail of topic
                            "".join(topic.xpath("text()").extract()).strip(),
                        ],
                    )
                ),
                detail_el.xpath("li"),
            )
        )
        description = "\n".join(topics)
    return description