Alliance was the only "mainstream" party in Northern Ireland to increase its vote at the last Assembly elections, leader David Ford repeatedly reminded delegates at Saturday's conference in Antrim.
"Faced with a media that had written us off, two seats which were only narrowly held at the last election and the loss of two key players, we might have expected to be in some difficulties," he said. Instead the party gained another seat.
"There are no 'no-go' areas for Alliance. We can take the battle for an anti-sectarian shared future to every part of Northern Ireland and we will," he said.
"The time for defence is over because I am ambitious for Alliance. Ambitious to see this party make progress."
His party, along with two other Assembly members, had formed "a united and coherent" opposition, he said. "It is up to others to form a united and coherent government." But the "gaps and inconsistencies" in the Executive are now obvious, he claimed.
"Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness will appear at nearly anything, state the obvious in a neatly crafted sound-bite, smile for the cameras, look serious or light-hearted as appropriate. But they haven't done anything. And anytime we have questioned them, they have failed to answer questions.
"In other legislatures, government may not answer questions from the opposition, but they generally give the impression they are bothering. Questions to the First Minister are more likely to be met with personal abuse than anything else."
Mr Ford said that "in the spirit of balance and fair play" he should pay tribute to what achievements there had been. He pointed to the Ulster Unionist Health Minister Michael McGimpsey's nurses' pay deal and the SDLP Margaret Ritchie's decision to cut funding to a UDA linked project.
"And that's it as far as I can see. The rest of the Executive has produced a plethora of consultations, postponements and fudges, plus a few very poor decisions."
"The four executive parties have signed off on a programme which contains no commitment to tackling sectarianism. Let us be quite clear: this is because all four parties wish to maintain the communal carve-up which holds this society back but which gives them their political base."