vector art

I know PowerPoint has the capabilities to handle vector art since some of the clip art that can be manipulated is vector.

I need to insert my own vector drawing into a slide. The background of the slide is a gradient so the background of my drawing must maintain its transparency.

I tried saving as an EPS out of Illustrator but kept getting an error upon bringing it into PowerPoint. I also tried saving as a bitmap and assigning the background color as transparent from the picture toolbar but this resulted in very poor quality.

Does anyone know how I can get a vector illustration into one of my slides?