The proliferation of multimedia communication services places increasing demands on achievable transmission rates over wireline and wireless channels. A variety of physical impairments limit the achievable rates over these channels such as the frequency selective nature of the channels and the interference between successive transmitted input symbols. Equalization techniques attempt to restore the memoryless nature of ideal channels, thus allowing input symbols to be transmitted at higher rates without inter-symbol interference. This talk provides an overview of the most common adaptive equalization techniques; from basic concepts to design examples.