diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 340eab02fd61829d32842db648a5dc0c91d71ed4..47e3c5fc744730c4fb927d428d4669ea3e139095 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -75,10 +75,10 @@ bridge:
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:RosToMqttBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:Bool"
     topic_from: "/ping"
-    topic_to: "/ping"
+    topic_to: "ping"
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:MqttToRosBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:Bool"
-    topic_from: "/ping"
+    topic_from: "ping"
     topic_to: "/pong"
 ```
 
@@ -129,10 +129,10 @@ bridge:
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:RosToMqttBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:Bool"
     topic_from: "/ping"
-    topic_to: "/ping"
+    topic_to: "ping"
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:MqttToRosBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:Bool"
-    topic_from: "/ping"
+    topic_from: "ping"
     topic_to: "/pong"
 ```
 
diff --git a/config/demo_params.yaml b/config/demo_params.yaml
index 9633de56986c4832ea88974d334c8eb8f15769bc..d0abc5f13ee2d0c669841e4ebe14aa21d626887f 100644
--- a/config/demo_params.yaml
+++ b/config/demo_params.yaml
@@ -12,17 +12,17 @@ bridge:
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:RosToMqttBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:Bool"
     topic_from: "/ping"
-    topic_to: "/ping"
+    topic_to: "ping"
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:MqttToRosBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:Bool"
-    topic_from: "/ping"
+    topic_from: "ping"
     topic_to: "/pong"
   # echo back
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:RosToMqttBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:String"
     topic_from: "/echo"
-    topic_to: "/echo"
+    topic_to: "echo"
   - factory: "mqtt_bridge.bridge:MqttToRosBridge"
     msg_type: "std_msgs.msg:String"
-    topic_from: "/echo"
+    topic_from: "echo"
     topic_to: "/back"