Steve Henry, director of the Centre For Sustainable Practice, said he was "thrilled" with the response from the local community and their passion for ongoing sustainable practice in the Lakes district.
The all-day event featured local exhibitors showing their products and services, a keynote speaker series and a discussion panel.
Mr Henry said the expo was an opportunity to publicise the Lakes district as a leader in best sustainable practice, by sharing and celebrating success stories from local businesses and organisations.
The discussion panel attracted more than 30 people to question key sustainability exponents from the Lakes district.
The speakers were James Helmore, of Lake Wanaka Tourism; Wanaka ward councillor Judith Batson; Scott Figenshow, Queenstown Lakes District Council senior policy analyst housing; Tony Everitt, of Destination Queenstown (DQ); Ann Lockhart, chief executive of the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce; and Paula McCallum, general manager of Qualmark.
Suggestions put to the panel included a solar panel for every house, accelerated resource consent for sustainable buildings and improved sustainability for Queenstown public transport.
At the end of the forum, each speaker gave their prediction of where the Lakes district would be in terms of sustainable practice in 10 years' time.
Mr Everitt, of DQ, said he would like to see Queenstown become a world-class sustainable practice leader and lauded occasions like the expo as the beginning of the process.
"The journey of a thousand miles always starts with a single step," he said.
The expo was organised by the Queenstown Lakes Sustainable Business Programme.
