I am a VB.NET Developer. I have a lot of experience with MS Agents and handling excel files. You will also need a settings form, since you will have to input the path for the excel file, every how many minutes you want the agent to say a new "tip", maybe an option to show the next tip so that the users can read all the tips fast, and finally, maybe an option to close the agent, so that it can stop "bugging" you.
As i said before, this is something i have done before, and my support will help you out.
Thanks,
Ted