How to show discussion topics on stream
StreamSlayers · Updated October 13, 2026 · 10 min read · Works with OBS, Streamlabs, Meld & evmux
Every good sports talk show has a rundown, and the best ones put it on screen. Topics turns yours into broadcast graphics: the list of what you're talking about tonight, the topic on air called out big, and a player standing right on the bar while you argue about him. You highlight the topic you're on and the overlay follows you instantly, with no browser-source refresh.
It all runs from one OBS link. You can build up to three shows on it (say a pregame L-Rundown, a postgame question bar and a morning panel), each with its own look and its own topics, and switch between them with one button. This guide walks through the whole app, from the first link in OBS to running a show live.
What you'll need
- OBS Studio, Streamlabs, Meld, evmux or XSplit
- A StreamSlayers plan. Topics comes with every one: view plans
- Optional: a saved design in the Graphics app, if you want topics to bring graphics on screen by themselves
Four ways to put it on screen
Every show is one of four types:
- Panel: your topics down one side of the screen, the one on air called out.
- L-Rundown: topics down the side and the question across the bottom, like the network debate shows.
- Question bar: just the topic on air, across the bottom.
- Topic bar: every topic across the bottom, the live one lit up.
Each type comes in a style. Velocity and Marquee draw all four, in 16:9 and in 9:16. Classic is the original Topics Panel and Topic Bar look, and draws the Panel and the Topic bar.
Open Topics from your dashboard
Sign in and press LAUNCH on the Topics tile. The page opens on YOUR SHOWS, then YOUR OBS LINK, then the show you're editing.
Used the old Topics Panel or Topic Bar? You'll see a card that says ONE LINK, UP TO 3 SHOWS. Press SWITCH TO SHOWS: your Topics Panel becomes show 1, on air, and your Topic Bar becomes show 2, each with its own settings and topics. Nothing on your stream changes until you press it, and your old Topic Bar link keeps working afterwards: it draws the show that's on air.
Add your one OBS link
In YOUR OBS LINK, press COPY, then in OBS: Sources → + → Browser, paste the link and set Width 1920, Height 1080. Or grab DRAG TO OBS and drop it straight into your scene. You add this link once: it draws whichever show is on air, so switching shows never means touching OBS.
Streaming vertical too? Flip the link to 9:16 and add that one at 1080 × 1920. It draws the same show, laid out for a phone screen. If you still have your old Topic Bar link in OBS, keep only one of the two: they draw the same show.
Set up a show
Each tile in YOUR SHOWS is a show: ON AIR or OFF AIR, with its type, style and topic count. + NEW SHOW adds one (up to three) and EDIT opens one in the editor below. You can set up a show while another is on air: editing a show that's off air changes nothing on stream until you press SHOW on it.
For the show you're editing, pick:
- Type: Panel, L-Rundown, Question bar or Topic bar. Each tile shows a preview.
- Style: Classic, Velocity or Marquee. Classic is greyed out for an L-Rundown or a Question bar, because those two are Velocity and Marquee only.
- Where on screen: a Panel sits on the left, in the middle or on the right. An L-Rundown's column goes on the left or the right, and its bar always runs along the bottom.
Make it yours
The STYLE card is everything about how this show looks. Every show has its own, so your postgame show can wear different colors from your morning panel.
- Team colors: pick a league, then any team in it, and the team's colors go on the bar, the live topic and the show plate. 🎲 Mix team colors keeps the same colors and moves them around: Classic, Swapped, Blackout, One color, White, Soft and Team plate. Every arrangement keeps the type readable. Or set the three colors yourself, or start from Gold, Signal red or StreamSlayers.
- Show name goes on the show plate. Put your channel or show logo in Logo on the bar instead and the bar's name badge shows the logo, sized to fit it.
- Sponsor logo fills the sponsor tile. Sponsor picture chooses how: Contain shows your whole logo at the Logo size you set (40 to 200%), Fill the space covers the tile edge to edge, and Off removes the tile (on the L-Rundown the bar then runs all the way across). To fill it exactly, the L-Rundown corner is 820 × 248 and the Panel foot 820 × 160.
- Show image puts your logo or show art at the top of the Panel and the L-Rundown (16:9, 1640 × 924, fits best), and L-Rundown title adds a plate at the top of the L's column, like TONIGHT'S RUNDOWN.
- Sit on my ticker: with the Broadcast Ticker in your scene, the show sits right on top of it and moves with it when the ticker hides, moves or changes size. Extra room at the bottom leaves space under it for a lower third.
One thing to know: a Velocity or Marquee show comes on screen while a topic is on air, and goes off when none is. That's how you bring the whole thing in and out (step 8).
Write the rundown
On the Topics tab, ADD TOPIC holds up to 15 topics per show. COPY TOPICS FROM at the top brings another show's list over in one press. For each topic:
- Topic title (the only required field) is the question or headline on the bar.
- Short label is what the rundown shows for it, like JUDGE'S SEASON. Left empty, it uses the title.
- Segment is the small tag on the topic's card: Headlines, Hot Seat, Toss Up, Mailbag, Big Finish, or a name of your own.
- Duration in seconds runs a clock on the topic. 0 means no clock: the topic stays on until you move. On the Settings tab you can have a sound play at zero, or move on to the next topic by itself.
- Subtitle, Media (an image or a GIF: paste a link, upload one, or search a name), Audio on highlight (a short sound when the topic goes on air) and Scheduled videos that play a set number of seconds into the topic (add the clips on the Videos tab first).
- Auto-graphics bring designs from your Graphics app on screen while the topic is on air, each with its own delay and how long it stays. They show in your Graphics browser source, so keep that source in the scene too.
Press ADD TOPIC and it's in your rundown. To change one, press ✎: every change goes to your stream as you make it and saves by itself, so there's nothing to press. DONE closes it.
Put players on the bar
On an L-Rundown or a Question bar, any topic can have up to four people standing on the bar while it's on air: players, a coach, anyone. The question moves over to make room. In the topic form, PEOPLE ON THE L-RUNDOWN BAR (or ON THE QUESTION BAR) walks you through it, one person at a time: press + ADD PERSON for the next one, or click a person to change them.
- Find a picture: type a name and press Search, then click a picture. You can also upload your own, paste a link, or use the topic's own picture.
- Fix it: ✂ Remove background cuts the person out, and ✂ Crop trims it. Undo is right there.
- Place it on the bar: ◀ Left side and Right side ▶ put them on either side in one press; slide them Left ↔ right, set their Size, Raise them off the bar's edge, or Flip it to face the other way.
- Move the words: at 0 the question makes room for the people by itself. Slide it either way to put it somewhere else.
The LIVE PREVIEW beside the steps shows exactly how it will look on stream while that topic is on air. On a topic you're changing, your stream follows as you move the picture, and it saves by itself.
Pull in the headlines
Below the form, IMPORT FROM HEADLINES fills a rundown fast. Type a team or a player in the search box (Yankees, or Aaron Judge), pick them from the list, and you get the latest headlines about them. Or tap league buttons and press Load headlines. Press Add on a story and it lands as a topic, with its headline, summary and photo. With the overlay set to Spanish, headlines come in Spanish.
Run the show live
During the stream you work the TOPIC SLOTS list:
- ○ puts a topic on air. A red NOW badge marks it, and the show comes on screen with it. Press it again to take the topic off, and the show goes off with it.
- ▲ ▼ set the running order, which is the order Next and Previous walk.
- ■ stops a video that's playing, and ✎ / ✕ edit and delete.
To change shows, press SHOW on another one in YOUR SHOWS: your OBS link switches to it. HIDE takes the show off screen. + SAVE THIS SHOW keeps a rundown you can load again another night.
You don't need the settings page open to run it. The Command Center has a Topics board with a button for every topic, a Show button for each of your shows, and Prev, Next, Stop Video and Watermark. Stream Deck keys for Next and Previous topic walk the show that's on air.
Spanish and vertical
OVERLAY LANGUAGE switches what your viewers see to Español: the overlay's own words go Spanish (TEMAS DE HOY, the segment names, EN VIVO, the date and the countdown), and headlines you import come in Spanish. The topics you type show exactly as you write them.
For vertical streams, the 9:16 link (step 2) draws the same show laid out for a phone: the rundown at the top, the bar and the player at the bottom.
Troubleshooting
Nothing shows in OBS. A Velocity or Marquee show only comes on screen while a topic is on air, so press ○ on one. Check the show says ON AIR in YOUR SHOWS (not hidden), and re-copy the link into the browser source if it's old.
My changes don't show on stream. You may be editing a show that's off air. The page says so above the tabs; press SHOW on it to put it on air.
Everything shows twice. Your old Topic Bar link and your Topics link draw the same show. Keep one of them in OBS.
I can't pick Classic. Classic draws the Panel and the Topic bar only. For an L-Rundown or a Question bar, pick Velocity or Marquee.
The auto-graphic never shows up. It renders through your Graphics browser source, not the Topics one, so add Graphics to the scene at 1920 × 1080.
A topic's sound doesn't play. Check the browser source's "Control audio via OBS" setting and make sure the source isn't muted in the OBS audio mixer.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What can Topics show on stream?
Your show's rundown, four ways: a Panel down one side, an L-Rundown (topics down the side, the question across the bottom), a Question bar with just the topic on air, or a Topic bar with every topic across the bottom. Velocity and Marquee draw all four in 16:9 and 9:16; Classic, the original look, draws the Panel and the Topic bar.
Can I run more than one show?
Yes. Up to three shows live on one OBS link, each with its own type, style, settings and topics. Press SHOW on the one you want and the link switches to it, so you never touch OBS to change shows.
What size should the browser source be?
1920 × 1080. For a vertical stream, switch the link to 9:16 and add that one at 1080 × 1920: it draws the same show laid out for a phone screen.
Can I put a player's picture on the bar?
Yes, on an L-Rundown or a Question bar. In the topic, search a name and click a picture (or upload your own), remove the background, crop it, and slide it left or right, size it and raise it, with a live preview of exactly how it looks on stream.
I used the old Topics Panel and Topic Bar. What happens to them?
Press SWITCH TO SHOWS on the Topics page: your Topics Panel becomes show 1 and your Topic Bar show 2, each with its settings and topics. Nothing changes on your stream until you press it. Your old Topic Bar link keeps working and draws the show that's on air, so keep only one of the two links in OBS.
Does it work in Spanish?
Set the Overlay Language to Español and the overlay's own words switch to Spanish (TEMAS DE HOY, the segment names, EN VIVO, the date and the countdown), and headlines you import come in Spanish. The topics you type show as you write them.
READY TO PUT TOPICS ON YOUR STREAM?
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