Once a draft resolution is on the floor, changing it goes through one of two paths, depending on whether the sponsors themselves agree with the change.
Friendly amendments
A change that every sponsor agrees to. Because consent is already unanimous among the people who wrote the resolution, a friendly amendment is typically just added directly. Sponsors sign off, the chair verifies it, and the resolution’s text updates. No separate committee vote needed.
Unfriendly amendments
A change proposed when sponsor consensus isn’t there, written by anyone, sponsor or not. It has to clear its own signatory threshold first (commonly similar to the resolution’s own threshold), then goes through a real process: introduced on the floor, briefly debated for and against, then voted on by the whole committee. It only becomes part of the resolution if it passes. Most conferences use simple majority here, though some require two-thirds, so check your rules rather than assume.
What doesn’t need any of this
Genuinely technical fixes, like a typo, a grammar error, or a punctuation mistake, are usually handled directly by the dais, no amendment process or vote required.
One detail that’s commonly mentioned but not consistently confirmed across sources: some conferences don’t allow preambulatory clauses to be amended at all, restricting the whole process to operative clauses. Worth confirming with your conference rather than assuming either way.
Friendly amendments only make sense as a category where a resolution has a formal sponsor/signatory system in the first place. A conference without that distinction handles proposed changes differently.
Next: Voting procedure