Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at a past Microsoft shareholder meeting. (Microsoft photo)

Microsoft will hold its annual meeting of shareholders Tuesday morning in Bellevue, just down the road from its Redmond headquarters, providing investors an opportunity to hear directly from CEO Steve Ballmer and also to question Ballmer, Bill Gates, finance chief Peter Klein and legal boss Brad Smith.

These annual sessions are generally informative and occasionally entertaining, but primarily they’re useful as a barometer of the company’s priorities and a gauge of investor sentiment about Microsoft’s strategy.

Now that the Microsoft co-founder has moved away from day-to-day executive responsibilities, the annual meeting is also a unique opportunity to hear what Gates has to say in response to questions about the company, although it wouldn’t be unprecedented for him not to speak during the meeting.

The official items of business, as outlined in the company’s proxy statement, include electing Microsoft’s nine-member board, an advisory vote on executive pay, a vote on how frequently those executive-pay advisory votes should happen, and a shareholder proposal to establish a board committee on environmental sustainability.

The meeting starts at 8 a.m. Pacific time Tuesday. GeekWire will be there covering the action, and if you can’t make it in person, the event will be available as a webcast via Microsoft’s investor relations site.

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