PLEASE NOTE: It is your sole responsibility to review and understand your employer’s policies regarding your eligibility to participate in trade promotions. If you are participating in violation of your employer’s policies, you may be disqualified from entering or receiving prizes. Microsoft disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between an employee and their employer related to this matter, and prizes will only be awarded in compliance with the employer’s policies.

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible for this offer.

COMMON TERMS USED IN THESE RULES:

These are the official rules that govern how the Microsoft Small Businesses are Thriving contest promotion will operate. This promotion will be simply referred to as the "Contest" throughout the rest of these rules.

In these rules, "we" "our" and "us" refer to Microsoft Corporation, the sponsor of the Contest. "You" "yourself" "I" "me" and "my" refers to an eligible Contest entrant.

1. CONTEST DESCRIPTION:

This is a skill-based Contest. The object of this Contest is to reward entrants that create and share the best tips on how small businesses can navigate a down economy. Entrants can submit tips for consideration in all of the following categories:

• General Business Management: General Business is somewhat of a catch-all category that could include tips for how to deal with cash flow issues, employee issues, partnerships, securing loans, energy, etc.
• Information Technology: This category refers to the implementation of any business technology, including but not limited to software, hardware, internet and telephony.
• Marketing & Sales: This category should include tips for how you interact with your marketplace, specifically your customers. What marketing tactics do you utilize or what types of sales related promotions do you employ to capture your customers’ attention or motivate your sales force?

For purpose of this Contest, each post you create and submit that contains a tip will be called an "entry." Each post will only grant you one (1) entry regardless of if it contains multiple tips. Therefore, each tip should be submitted in a separate post in order to receive the maximum number of entries. All eligible entries received will be judged using the criteria in Paragraph 4, and the judges will select one person from each contest category who will each receive the prize described below.

2. What are the start and end dates?

This Contest starts at 12:01 AM PT on Wednesday, July 31, 2008 and ends at 11:59 PM PT on Wednesday, October 1, 2008. This will be referred to as the Entry Period throughout the rest of these rules. Entries must be received within the Entry Period to be eligible. Any received outside of those dates will be disqualified.

3. Can You enter?

You are eligible to enter this Contest if you meet the following requirements:

• You are an authorized representative of a small business legally domiciled in the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia) and have between two (2) and one hundred (100) employees.
• You are NOT an employee of Microsoft Corporation or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary; and
• You are NOT involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Sweepstakes; and
• You are NOT an immediate family (parent, sibling, spouse, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Sweepstakes.

This Contest is void outside the geographic area identified above and wherever else prohibited by law.

4. What constitutes an eligible entry?

To be eligible for judging an entry must meet the following content / technical requirements:

• Your tip must contain information that can be used in a small business (2-100 employees) setting that suggests how to help navigate a down economy and/or “weather the storm” through slow times.
• Your tip must come from personal experience (i.e., something that has been implemented by you and can be referenced from first-hand experience).

In addition:

• your entry must be your own original work; and
• your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other contest; and
• you must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for you to submit your entry; and
• your entry must not otherwise violate the rights of any other person or company by using their trademarks, music, logos, names or images without their express written consent.

Entries may not contain, as determined by us, in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that:

• is sexually explicit, unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group; profane or pornographic;
• promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or a particular political agenda;
• is obscene or offensive;
• defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies;
• contains trademarks, logos, or trade dress (such as distinctive packaging or building exteriors/interiors) owned by others;
• contains copyrighted materials owned by others (including photographs, sculptures, paintings, and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media);
• contains materials embodying the names, likenesses, voices, or other indicia identifying any person, (other than the member of your family or community for you have received consent) including, without limitation, celebrities and/or other public or private figures, living or dead;
• contains look-alikes of celebrities or other public or private figures, living or dead;
• communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which we wish to associate; and/or violates any law;

We reserve the right to reject any entry, in our sole and absolute discretion, that we determine does not meet the above criteria.

5. How will my entry be potentially used?

Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting your entry, you (or, if you are a minor, your parent or legal guardian):

• are granting us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to: (i) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this Contest; and (ii) feature your entry and all into content in connection with the promotion of this Contest in all media (now known or later developed);
• agree to sign any necessary documentation that may be required for us and our designees to make use of the rights you granted above;
• understand and acknowledge that the Promotion Parties may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your submission and you waive any claims you may have resulting from any similarities to your entry;
• understand that we cannot control the incoming information you will disclose to our representatives in the course of entering, or what our representatives will remember about your entry. You also understand that we will not restrict work assignments of representatives who have had access to your entry. By entering this Contest, you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under this agreement or copyright or trade secret law;
• understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these Official Rules

Please note that following the end of this Contest your entry may be posted on a website selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry.

If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this Contest.

6. How do you submit your entry?

To submit your entry you must do all of the following:

• Navigate to BumptheSlump.com and create a free account. If you already have registered an account on BumptheSlump.com, you must first login prior to submitting your tip.
• At the top of the page, click on the green button that says "Submit a Tip".
• Fill in your tip’s title, description, and tip category and choose "Submit".

Upon submission, your entry will be automatically posted to the BumptheSlump.com and will be eligible for public voting. If we discover that your entry violates any of the criteria outlined in section 4 of this document, it will be removed from the site within two (2) business days and will not be considered a valid entry.

Please note that by participating in this contest, you are submitting tips on behalf of your company. There is no limit to the number of tips you can submit, however, two people may not enter using the same email address – you must each enter using a unique email address. We are not responsible for entries that we do not receive for any reason, or for entries that we receive but are not decipherable for any reason.

We will automatically disqualify:

1. Any incomplete or illegible entry; and
2. Any entries that we receive from you that violate the terms set forth in Section 4 of this document.

7. How will entries be judged?

All entries will go through a public voting period first followed by a final judging period as outlined below.

Public Voting Period: Throughout the entry period stated above, visitors to the site will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite tip. In order to vote for an entry, you must do all of the following:

• Navigate to BumptheSlump.com and create a free account. If you already have registered an account on BumptheSlump.com, you must first login prior to voting.
• Once logged in, you will be able to vote for as many posts as you like but you will only be able to vote for each post once.

Judging Period: At the close of the public voting period, the ten (10) tips with the most votes will be selected as the semi-finalists and will advance to the final judging round in which a panel of judges will review all eligible entries received and select one (1) winner per contest category based upon the following criteria:

33.33% - Clarity of Expression;

33.33% - Widespread applicability, regardless of business type; and

33.33% - Potential Business Impact

The decisions of the judges are final and binding. If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than described above.

In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, the tie will be broken by an additional judge who will the judge the tied entries based on the criteria listed above.

8. What is/are the prize(s)?

Three (3) Grand Prizes. $25,000 of Shell Gasoline (in the form of $250 increment Shell Gas Cards) and the opportunity to appear on the Microsoft Small Business Summit. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) US $26,500.00.

This prize includes a trip for one (1) employee from the each winning company to Redmond, Washington to be featured in a live webcast that will be aired during the 2008 Small Business Summit October 13-16, 2008 (exact date of appearance TBD). Trip includes:

• Round trip coach airfare from major airport closest to winner's home.
  • Winner is responsible for providing all required travel documents, including, but not limited to required Visa, passport etc.
  • If winner lives within 100 miles of travel destination, Sponsor reserves the right to provide alternative transportation.
• One or Two nights standard hotel accommodations at a nearby hotel.
• Taxi service from SeaTac Airport to hotel and back
• $100 per day travel allowance

The total Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of all prizes: US $79,500.

The prize will be awarded to the winning Company, not to the Authorized Representative of the Company or to any other individual employee(s) making an acquisition or completing any entry materials on behalf of the winning Company. Further, the winning Company’s CFO or other senior executive selected is responsible for determining any prize distribution within the winning Company’s organization in accordance with its policies. We will not be responsible for any disputes arising between individual employees and their respective employers.

If for any reason the advertised prize is unavailable, we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value. We will only award one (1) prize per company. In other words, a company may only be selected as a winner in one (1) of the three (3) categories. If you are selected as a potential winner of this Contest:

1. You may not exchange your prize for cash or any other merchandise or services;
2. You may not designate someone else as the winner. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, we will award it to an alternate potential winner.
3. If you accept a prize, you will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

9. How will you know if you’re a winner?

If you are a potential winner, we will notify you by sending a message to the e-mail address, the phone number, or mailing address (if any) listed on your entry within seven (7) days of winner determination. If the notification that we send is returned as undeliverable, or you are otherwise unreachable for any reason, we may award the prize to an alternate winner.

If there is a dispute as to who is the potential winner, we will consider the potential winner to be the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter the Contest, or the person residing at the mailing address listed on your mail-in entry.

If you are a potential winner, we may require you to sign an affidavit of eligibility, liability/publicity release and W-9 tax form. If you are a potential winner and are a minor in your place of residence, we may require your parent or legal guardian to sign all required forms on your behalf. If you do not complete the required forms as instructed and/or return the required forms within the time period listed on the winner notification message, we may disqualify you and select an alternate winner.

10. What other conditions are you are agreeing to by entering this Contest?

By entering this Contest you (your parent or legal guardian if you are a minor) agree and understand that:

1. To abide by these Official Rules;
2. To the extent allowed by law, to release and hold harmless Microsoft, their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this Contest or any prize won;
3. That Microsoft’s decisions will be final and binding on all matters related to this Contest; and
4. That Microsoft may use of your proper name and state of residence online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this Contest, without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.
5. Contest will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of Washington courts (state and federal) for any disputes arising out of this Contest.

11. What if something unexpected happens and the Contest can’t run as planned?

If someone cheats, or a virus, bug, catastrophic event, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, (also referred to as force majeure) affects the fairness and / or integrity of this Contest, we reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this Contest. This right is reserved whether the event is due to human or technical error. If a solution cannot be found to restore the integrity of the Contest, we reserve the right to select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Contest.

Computer “hacking” is a crime. If you attempt to compromise the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Contest by hacking or by cheating or committing fraud in ANY way, we may seek damages from you to the fullest extent permitted by law. Further, we may ban you from participating in any of our future Contest, so please play fairly.

12. How can you find out who won?

We will post the names of confirmed winners online after October 6, 2008 at BumptheSlump.com. This list will remain posted until December, 31, 2008.

13. Who is sponsoring this Contest?

Microsoft Corporation is the sponsor of this Contest.

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052