Talking Headless Show · October 28, 2026
Turning Analyst Relations into Executive Intelligence and Category Visibility
Analyst relations works best when both sides understand what the other needs, and the Talking Headless Show on October 28, 2026 brings both sides into a single conversation. I am joined by two leaders who live the analyst relations craft daily, backed by an unprecedented voice for this show: the collective input of 175 industry analysts.
The second segment of the broadcast typically spotlights one industry analyst. This episode shifts the lens. John Rockhold arrives with the compiled findings of a survey answered by 175 practicing analysts, giving us the opportunity to examine what an entire analyst community prioritizes rather than relying on a single perspective.
Abbey Fischer turns analyst relationships into executive intelligence
Abbey Fischer is Head of Analyst Relations at Qualtrics, leading the organization's strategic engagement with industry analysts. With nearly a decade of experience across both agency and in-house environments, she approaches analyst relationships as a foundational business asset. Her work actively guides market positioning and translates analyst feedback into actionable intelligence that executives use to drive product and go-to-market decisions.
Before Qualtrics, Abbey served as Senior Analyst Relations Manager at Amazon Ads. Prior to that, she directed client engagements for the Marketing and Sales Technology practice at Spotlight Analyst Relations. In our opening segment, we will explore how that distinct cross-functional background informs the way she structures modern AR programs.
John Rockhold brings the analyst community to the table
John Rockhold serves as Vice President of Market Engagement at Spotlight. Bringing a career foundation rooted in journalism before transitioning into analyst relations leadership, he helps B2B enterprises maintain authoritative visibility across analysts, buyers, partners, and AI synthesis systems. The underlying urgency is straightforward: enterprise buyers conduct extensive independent research long before contacting sales, meaning external evaluator sources establish the critical first impression of your capability.
Buyers research long before they ever contact a vendor.
What analysts say makes AR valuable
Spotlight recently released its 2026 Analyst Survey Report, drawing on direct responses from 175 analysts. The study examines customer validation requirements, answer engine indexing, and tactical steps vendors must take to make briefings genuinely useful. Because Spotlight conducted and published the survey, the data represents vendor-supplied figures rather than a third-party academic audit. John and I will dissect the survey methodology directly on air.
The emergence of answer engines makes these findings especially timely. Evaluator and analyst research directly seeds the responses enterprise buyers receive from generative search tools. When analyst commentary shapes how autonomous answer engines summarize your software category, analyst relations becomes central to discoverability as well as industry credibility.
Two conversations in one hour
In the first segment, Abbey walks through how to build an AR function that earns sustained executive buy-in. In the second segment, John unpacks what 175 analysts highlighted as their core priorities and how vendor teams can address them effectively.
Join the live broadcast on LinkedIn on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET: Register for the live stream here.
What to do Monday
Monday, November 2, 2026 is the first business day following the broadcast. Put the insights to immediate operational use:
Review the survey report ahead of the episode and identify the single most relevant metric for your product team. Audit the customer references you can offer analysts this quarter, verifying tangible business outcomes and permissions. Finally, prompt an answer engine regarding your software category to see which analyst firms and evaluation reports it cites as grounding sources.
Bring those three findings into your next internal AR review and assign an operational owner to each.
Works Cited
Spotlight. The 2026 Analyst Survey Report. Spotlight, 2026, spotlight-io.com/resource/2026-analyst-survey-report. Vendor-supplied survey; figures not independently audited.